Galatians

Study 9: Ch.2:1-6

The
false brethren (a)

Chapter two
continues the same theme as Chapter one: Paul’s example, of
walking and
living
in the Spirit as opposed to that of the flesh. In this
chapter we
will consider:

1. The
false brethren
who were responsible for the trouble;2. Some believers, who were mixed
up in
the Judaizing
teaching. 3. Paul's response to all this.

Then
fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and
took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I
preach among
the Gentiles, but privately
to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or
had run, in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being
a Greek,
was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren
unawares brought in,
who came in privily to
spy out our
liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for
an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with
you.
But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it
maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for
they who
seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:

Gal.2:1-6

1.
False
brethren brought in

False
brethren, one who professes to be a Christian yet lacking the true life
within,
one who professes godliness but denying the power thereof.(II
Tim.3:5)
Christianity
is first and foremost the life of God planted in the hearts of men and
women by
new birth; it is not living a life according to rules and ceremonies;
there are
many, who profess to be Christian, yet they have not had this new birth
at all,
they are still in the unregenerate state; there are also those who once
knew
the truth but have gone back to their old ways

,
and
have ended up in a worse state ( II Pet.
2:22-23)

Whether
these false brethren once had the truth and had simply gone back to the
flesh
and denied their Lord, or that they were not born again to begin with
we are
not told but the result is the same –
they came in bringing
a
perverted gospel
message. Now they probably didn’t sit down and conspire
deliberately in
order
to bring a false gospel, but rather the message they preached was the
bad fruit
of their lives, the result of living in the flesh. The gospel is so
contrary to
the flesh that only those who are born from above and walking in the
Spirit can
understand and live it, anyone not in the Spirit will simply produce a
religion
of the flesh.

Forasmuch
as we have
heard, that
certain which went out from us have
troubled you
with words, subverting your souls, saying, ye must be
circumcised, and
keep the law: to whom we gave no such
commandment

Acts 15:24

The
quote
here from Acts regarding these people is interesting, it was
the
souls
of the
hearers they were subverting; the word conveying the idea of producing distress, confusion
and
disorder. In
this case these people making
circumcision
a condition of salvation; imagine what the early Gentile believers, who
had
repented and had been saved by grace through faith, would have thought
on
hearing this. Originally they were told of God’s free gift
without them
having to bring any good works to account, and now they were being told
to be
circumcised. Just think of the confusion and heaviness of heart they
would have.
And this is what such false brethren bring to people.

Those who would seek
to
impose a flesh religion seek to impose an external code in order to
regulate
the inner life. And it brings distress
to many hearts, confusion and even fear amongst the brethren.
Circumcision
is not an issue now with believers, but there are other subtle ways in
which
believers can be enticed into ‘Galatianism’.

Distress,
in that an external code binds a soul to live to someone’s
expectations
and
forever looking for approval from them. This is especially true if the
persons
involved are strong in character, they can make others feel inferior
and this
plays on minds to the extent that those not living up to their
ideas come
under accusation (implicit or otherwise).

Confusion
because it is contrary to the Spirit of God and those following such a
code find
an inner conflict of Spirit and Flesh. The Spirit leads one way, a life
of
liberty and joy in God, and the flesh into one of self effort in the
opposite
direction. God is not the author of confusion, so whoever brings
confusion has
not received it from God.

Now in the
visible churches there has always been a mixed multitude, or tares as
well as
the wheat, to use Jesus’ parable. So it is no surprise when
these
things
happen, but this does not mean that we have to accept them! We are to
admonished
and then reject a heretic after giving adequate warning.

A
man that is
an heretick after the
first and second admonition reject;

Titus 3:10

But
neither
does it mean that we go ‘witch hunting’ making
inquisition about every
professing believer we meet; there are some believers who are so
suspicious
that they have to analyse every part of others’ lives to see
if they
are
acceptable; this is unhealthy and unloving and leads to a
hyper-critical spirit
that that in itself can bring division and much distress. Extremes are
not God’s ways and
getting the
balance right in these things can be difficult, but when the situation
does
arise we should be ready to face and deal with it.

2. Liberty or
bondage?

The
Christian faith is one of liberty. And to define this liberty we only
need to
read II
Cor 3.

Seeing
then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not
as Moses, which
put a vail
over his face, that the children of Israel
could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but
their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail
untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done
away in Christ. But even
unto
this day, when Moses is read, the
vail is
upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail
shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that
Spirit: and where the Spirit
of the
Lord is,
there is
liberty. But we all, with open
face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the
Spirit of the
Lord.

II Cor. 3:12-18

This
liberty is from the Mosaic Law, and by implication any law that might
be
imposed; we need to remember that God gave Moses the law, so if we are
free
from that how can we be bound to man made regulations? The whole of II
Cor. 3
deals with the difference between the old and new covenants, and it is
this
failure to understand the difference between the two that results in
legalism,
a topic that is developed later in Galatians.

In
the
Old
Covenant there was a vail on the peoples’ hearts so that they
were
blinded in
their minds and were not free to come directly to God; instead they had
a
system of rules and laws in order to approach God, and even then it was
only through
a mediator. We in the NC have no such law; we have had the vail removed
from
our minds, and the throne of grace freely accessible without any go
between,
whether it
is a man or a system of regulations. Christ
has made the way open to
all, and
no law or regulation can alter that.

Yet
false
brethren would seek to impose some form of legalism in order to bring
us back
into bondage, in order to bring blindness once more to
peoples’ hearts
trying
to please God by laws and regulations.

While
they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of
corruption,for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in
bondage.

II Pet 2:19

It
appears
that these false brethren were overcome by legalism, that is they have
to have their lives checked against a
list of laws and regulations to see that they are
‘good’ enough; and
has been
already mentioned, if that were not sufficient they seek to impose it
on
others.

They
have
been overcome by it and are therefore in bondage; they are blind and
have
their hearts
vailed from the truth in Jesus. They do not have the liberty in Christ
themselves and therefore can not understand how a man lives the life
that God
wanted without regulating behaviour in some way. But what is worse is
that they
try to bring others into it as well, making them twofold more the child
of hell
than themselves. At the back of it all is the flesh trying to rule and
regulate
the things of God, which it cannot do.

What
is
the
reason given? To bring us into bondage; they are in bondage so they
seek to
bring others into that same state. They not only want to bring us into
bondage
they have but also they want to be the ‘masters’,
making others slaves
to them
and their ways.

This is not only true of individuals but also of
groups and
denominations; by their self made regulations and conditions they turn
believers into slaves of systems. And the great tragedy is that many
believers do not know that they are slaves to systems and are not
living in the liberty in Christ, and like it that way!

In
order for
the truth of the
gospel to continue we must not give place
to these things at all.

In the next study we look at some other aspects of these
false
brethren.